On net faxing

ABSTRACT

Distribution of electronic documents is described, including receiving an electronic document to be distributed, identifying whether a destination identifier is associated with a destination account among a known group of customer accounts, routing the electronic document, and calculating a fee associated with delivery of the electronic document based on whether the destination account is among the known group of customers and a set of billing rules. The set of billing rules may specify a discounted fee for routing an electronic document to each of a known group of customer accounts. In other aspects, the set of billing rules may specify a discounted fee for routing an electronic document to a first group of the known group of customer accounts and specify a standard fee for a second group of the known group of customer accounts.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and claims a benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. § 120 from, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/886,425,filed May 28, 2020, entitled “ON NET FAXING,” now U.S. Pat. No.11,178,305, which is a continuation of, and claims a benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. § 120 from, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/830,594,filed Dec. 4, 2017, entitled “ON NET FAXING,” now U.S. Pat. No.10,694,067, which is a continuation of, and claims a benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. § 120 from, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/172,452,filed Feb. 4, 2014, entitled “ON NET FAXING,” now U.S. Pat. No.9,854,123, which is a continuation of, and claims a benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. § 120 from, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/311,167,filed Dec. 5, 2011, entitled “ON NET FAXING,” now U.S. Pat. No.8,719,083, which claims a benefit of priority from U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/420,040, filed Dec. 6, 2010. All applications listedin this paragraph are hereby incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND

Conventional facsimile (fax) technology has been a successful means totransmit documents electronically. However, with the emergence of datanetworks, the integration of conventional fax technology with datanetworks has changed the landscape of fax services. Particularly, a faxwhich was typically communicated exclusively via the circuit-switchedPublic Switched Telephone Network (“PSTN”) is now commonly communicatedvia portions of both the PSTN and packet-switched data networks.Additionally, new network-based fax services are available which permita user to originate a fax message to be delivered from various types ofclients connected to packet-switched data networks. As network-based faxservices are adopted by more and more users, it may become common that aparty that subscribes to a network-based fax service transmits a fax toanother party that also subscribes to the same network-based faxservice. In other words, as network-based fax services become more andmore popular, there is an increased likelihood that both originating anddestination parties of a fax would be customers of a same network-basedfax service.

Generally, a network-based fax service may be implemented by a serverincluding packet- and circuit-switched interface circuits, as well ashardware and associated software for converting electronic documents forusers. When an electronic document arrives at the server for delivery asa fax, the server may convert the document into a format suitable fortransmission over the PSTN. The fax server may then transmit theconverted document over the PSTN via circuit-switched interface circuitsand/or an associated gateway. For a fax arriving at the server, theserver may identify a destination account associated with the arrivingfax, convert the incoming fax into a format suitable for delivery to thedestination account, and store the converted document for retrieval overthe packet-switched network.

Between two customers that both subscribe to the same network-based faxservice, it would be preferable to deliver a fax without relying uponthe PSTN. In this case, costs associated with delivery of the fax may bereduced, because the PSTN is not used. It is noted that thenetwork-based service may generally incur a cost from a telephonecompany or other entity for each fax delivered using the PSTN. However,for reasons discussed in further detail below, it may be undesirable forcustomers to be put on notice that the network-based fax service savescosts with respect to delivery of fax messages.

A network-based fax service that accounts for the above-describedfactors and conditions would be desirable.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a method for distributing documents is describedincluding receiving an electronic document to be distributed and adestination identifier, identifying whether the destination identifieris associated with a destination account among a known group of customeraccounts, routing the electronic document according to whether thedestination account is among the known group of customer accounts, andcalculating a fee associated with delivery of the electronic documentbased on whether the destination account is among the known group ofcustomers and a set of billing rules. In some aspects, identifyingwhether the destination account is among the known group of customersincludes accessing a database of known customers. The electronicdocument may be received via one of an attachment to an e-mail, a webportal, and an application programming interface, for example, and themethod may further include formatting the electronic document into aformat suitable for facsimile transmission.

The set of billing rules may specify a discounted fee for routing anelectronic document to each of a known group of customer accounts. Inother aspects, the set of billing rules may specify a discounted fee forrouting an electronic document to a first group of the known group ofcustomer accounts and specify a standard fee for a second group of theknown group of customer accounts.

In some aspects, routing an electronic document may include, when adestination account is among a known group of customer accounts, routingthe electronic document via a port of a gateway configured as a logicalcrossover connection between inbound and outbound interfaces. In otherembodiments, routing the electronic document may include, when thedestination account is not among the known group of customers, routingthe electronic document via a port of a gateway configured as a logicalconnection to an external communications network.

In some embodiments, the method may further include identifying anoriginating account associated with an electronic message, anddetermining whether originating and destination accounts are eachassociated with a same customer, where, when the originating anddestination accounts are each associated with the same customer, thecalculating further comprises calculating a discounted or standard feefor routing the electronic document based on a subset of the billingrules associated with the customer. The method may further includeidentifying an originating account associated with the electronicmessage, and determining whether originating and destination accountsare associated with different customers, where, when the originating anddestination accounts are associated with different customers, thecalculating further comprises calculating a discounted or standard feefor routing the electronic document based on a subset of the billingrules associated with different customers.

In another embodiment, an apparatus for distributing documents isdescribed, including a customer database that stores a known group ofcustomers, a billing database that stores a set of billing rules, anetwork interface configured to receive an electronic document to bedistributed and a destination identifier, a job monitor configured toidentify whether the destination identifier is associated with adestination account among the known group of customer accounts, androute the electronic document according to whether the destinationaccount is among the known group of customer accounts, and a billingcontroller configured to calculate a fee associated with delivery of theelectronic document based on whether the destination account is amongthe known group of customer accounts and the set of billing rules. Insome aspects, the electronic document is received by the networkinterface via one of an attachment to an e-mail, a web portal, and anapplication programming interface, for example, and the apparatusfurther comprises a document translator that formats the electronicdocument into a format suitable for facsimile transmission. In otheraspects, the job monitor is further configured to route the electronicdocument via a port of a gateway configured as a logical crossoverconnection between inbound and outbound interfaces, when the destinationaccount is among the known group of customer accounts. The job monitormay be further configured to route the electronic document via a port ofa gateway configured as a logical connection to an externalcommunications network, when the destination account is among the knowngroup of customer accounts.

The set of billing rules may specify a discounted fee for routing anelectronic document to each of a known group of customer accounts. Inother aspects, the set of billing rules may specify a discounted fee forrouting an electronic document to a first group of the known group ofcustomer accounts and specify a standard fee for a second group of theknown group of customer accounts.

In some aspects, a job monitor of an apparatus for distributingdocuments may be configured to identify an originating accountassociated with the electronic message, and determine whether theoriginating and destination accounts are each associated with a samecustomer, and a billing controller of the apparatus for distributingdocuments may be configured to calculate a discounted or standard feefor routing the electronic document based on a subset of the billingrules associated with the customer, when the originating and destinationaccounts are each associated with the same customer. In other aspects, ajob monitor of an apparatus for distributing documents may be furtherconfigured to identify an originating account associated with theelectronic message, and determine whether the originating anddestination accounts are associated with different customers, and abilling controller of the apparatus for distributing documents may beconfigured to calculate a discounted or standard fee for routing theelectronic document based on a subset of the billing rules associatedwith different customers, when the originating and destination accountsare associated with different customers.

In still another embodiment, a system for distributing documents isdescribed including a gateway communicatively coupled to an externalcommunications network and comprising inbound and outbound linecontrollers, a first port of the gateway being configured as a logicalcrossover connection between the inbound and outbound line controllersand a second port of the gateway being configured as a logicalconnection to the external communications network, a job monitorconfigured to receive an electronic document to be distributed and adestination identifier, identify whether the destination identifier isassociated with a destination account among the known group of customeraccounts, and route the electronic document via the gateway according towhether the destination account is among the known group of customeraccounts, and a billing controller configured to calculate a feeassociated with delivery of the electronic document based on whether thedestination account is among the known group of customer accounts and aset of billing rules.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the invention and the advantagesthereof, reference is now made to the following description, inconjunction with the accompanying figures briefly described as follows.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network diagram according to aspectsdescribed herein;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example functional block diagram of a gateway anda server according to aspects described herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example circuit diagram of a general purposecomputer;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example flow diagram of a method of distributingdocuments according to aspects described herein;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example flow diagram of a method of calculating adelivery fee according to aspects described herein;

FIG. 6A illustrates an example of a set of billing rules according toaspects described herein; and

FIG. 6B illustrates another example of a set of billing rules accordingto aspects described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following paragraphs, the invention is described in detail by wayof example with reference to the attached drawings. Embodiments aredescribed with the understanding that the present disclosure is to beconsidered as an example of the principles of the invention and notintended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown anddescribed. That is, throughout this description, the embodiments andexamples are to be considered as exemplars, rather than as limitations.Descriptions of well-known components, methods, and/or processingtechniques are omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure the invention.As used herein, the “invention” refers to any of the embodiments of theinvention described herein, and any equivalents. Further, reference tovarious feature(s) of the invention is not to suggest that everyembodiment must include the referenced feature(s).

In some aspects and embodiments, the invention may be implemented as acomputer program executed on a processor. However, it should be apparentthat there could be many different ways of implementing the invention ina computer program, and the invention should not be construed as beinglimited to any particular set of computer program instructions. Further,as a skilled programmer would be able to write a computer program toimplement embodiments of the invention based on the flow charts andassociated descriptions provided herein, specific disclosure of programcode instructions is not considered necessary for an adequateunderstanding of how to make and use the invention.

The invention is directed to distributing electronic documents as faxes,for example, using an approach that saves costs associated withdelivering faxes over the PSTN, by routing messages identified as beingassociated with destination accounts among a known group of customersusing a logical crossover connection that bypasses the PSTN.Additionally, the invention relies upon a set of billing rules to defineand specify either discounted or standard fees for delivery of faxes.

As noted above, between two customers that both subscribe to the samenetwork-based fax service, it is possible to deliver a fax between thecustomers without relying upon the PSTN. In this case, costs associatedwith delivery of the fax may be discounted, because the PSTN is notused. Although costs associated with distributing a fax may bediscounted, it may be desirable if customers are unaware of the factthat the PSTN is bypassed. For example, a network-based fax service maydesire to bypass the PSTN to save costs, while still charging a standardfax delivery fee. In some situations, it may be preferable thatcustomers are unaware that faxes are being delivered via only the datanetwork and not the PSTN, because the customers are more likely todemand a discounted fee. In other situations, it may be preferable thatcustomers are unaware that faxes are delivered via only the data networkand not the PSTN, because such delivery may indicate to the customersthat they are both serviced by the same network-based fax service.Especially between two customers of competing business practices, it maybe undesirable for the customers to take notice that they are eachsubscribing to the same network-based fax service.

The invention takes the above-described factors and conditions intoaccount. In general, a received electronic document to be distributed asa fax is associated with a destination identifier that identifies adestination for faxing the electronic document. Based on the destinationidentifier, an account associated with the destination identifier may beidentified as being among a known group of customer accounts thatsubscribe to a network-based fax service. Alternatively, the destinationidentifier may not be identified among the known group of customeraccounts that subscribe to the network-based fax service. The electronicdocument may then be routed for distribution as a fax accordingly. Afterthe electronic document is distributed (i.e., delivered), calculation ofa fee associated with delivery of the electronic document may bedetermined based on whether the destination of the fax was among theknown group of customers that subscribe to the network-based fax serviceand a set of billing rules.

Among embodiments, the set of billing rules may specify a globaldiscount among all accounts of one customer of the network-based faxservice. Alternatively, the set of billing rules may specify specificdiscounts between respective accounts of one customer. In additionalembodiments, the set of billing rules may specify global discountsbetween different customers of the network-based fax service, or specifyspecific discounts between respective accounts among differentcustomers.

Routing electronic documents without relying upon the PSTN may beaccomplished by a gateway configured to deliver the electronic documentsas faxes using a logical crossover connection of the gateway. Using sucha gateway, faxes may appear to have traversed the PSTN, without actuallyrelying on the PSTN or being subject to the costs associated with thePSTN. Further, according to features described herein, delivery ofdocuments using the logical crossover connection is indistinguishable tocustomers of the network-based fax service from delivery of documentsusing the PSTN. Aspects of the invention include appending faxtransmission headers and cover pages, among other information and items,to an electronic document delivered via the gateway, regardless ofwhether the delivery is via the logical crossover connection or thePSTN. As such, features such as transmission time, transmission date,and other well-known transmission identifiers generally available whendelivering an electronic document as a fax via the PSTN are stillprovided even when delivering via the logical crossover connection. Forthis and other reasons described below, users are unable to distinguishdelivery of the electronic document as a fax via the PSTN or the logicalcrossover connection of the gateway.

Turning now to the drawings, in which like numerals indicate likeelements throughout, embodiments of the invention are described infurther detail.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network diagram. The network includes datanetwork 110 and the PSTN 150. The data network 110 may comprise apublic, private, or public and private packet-switched data network,including one or more Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide Area Network(WANs), and the Internet. The PSTN 150 may comprise a public, private,or public and private circuit-switched telephone network.

Several clients or terminals are connected to the data network 110, suchas computers 112, multi-function device 114, and network fax machine116. The computers 112, multiple-function device 114, and network faxmachine 116 may each be connected to the data network 110 in any mannerunderstood by those of ordinary skill and the art. For example,connections to the data network may be via intermediary networks and/orInternet Service Providers (ISPs). Likewise, the multi-function device114 and the network fax machine 116 may be connected to the data networkvia intermediary networks and/or ISPs. The data network 110 and anyconnections to the data network 110 may also include wired, wireless,and optical connections, among other well-known connections.

Conventional fax machines 160 are coupled to the PSTN 150 using standardtelephone connections, as understood by those of ordinary skill in theart. The standard fax machines 116 may rely upon the T.30 fax protocolfor transmission of faxes over the PSTN in the voice band ofapproximately 50-3500 Hz, as one example. The gateway 134 provides aninterface between the data network 110 and the PSTN 150. For example,the gateway 134 may serve as an interface between packet-based protocolsused on the data network 110 and protocols used on the PSTN 150, whichis a circuit-switched network. In some aspects, the gateway 134 maypermit real time communications between the standard fax machines 160and devices connected to the data network 110, by converting protocolsrelied upon by the fax machines 160 (such as the T.30 protocol) toprotocols suitable for transmission over the data network 110. Thegateway 134 and the PSTN 150 may be maintained by a telephone company orother entity.

As a more detailed example of the functions performed by the gateway134, the gateway 134 may be configured as a T.30/T.38 fax relay. Thatis, the gateway 134 may convert or encapsulate a T.30 protocol datastream into a T.38 protocol data stream, and vice versa. The T.38protocol data stream is suitable for transmission over the data network110. The T.38 data stream may be routed to another T.38 enabled endpoint device such as the multiple function device 114, the network faxmachine 116, or the gateway 132. The T.38 protocol may reply uponsignaling and setup protocols such as TCP, UDP, H.323, SIP, and MGCP,for example, to transport T.38 packets over the data network 110.

As described in further detail below, the gateway 132 may be configuredto route electronic messages using a logical crossover connection thatbypasses the PSTN 150, while permitting the appearance of transmissionusing the PSTN 150. In some aspects, the gateway 132 may also functionas a T.30/T.38 fax relay. The server 140 is configured to receiveelectronic documents to be distributed, identify whether a destinationassociated with the electronic document is an account among a knowngroup of customer accounts, route the electronic document according towhether the destination account is among the known group of customeraccounts, and calculate a fee associated with delivery of the electronicdocument based on whether the destination account is among the knowngroup of customers and a set of billing rules. It is noted that theserver 140 may include more than one connection to the data network 110.According to the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the server 140 iscommunicatively coupled to the data network 110 via the direct networkpath 152 and via the gateway path 154 through the gateway 132.

Turning to FIG. 2, an exploded view of the gateway 132 and the server140 is illustrated. The gateway 132 includes an inbound telephonyinterface 212, an on-net outbound telephony interface 214, and anoff-net outbound telephony interface 216. The server 140 provides anetwork-based fax service and comprises various functional blocks suchas a line-in controller 230, an on-net line-out controller 232, anoff-net line-out controller 234, a log service 240, a job monitor 220, anetwork interface 250, network communication services 252, a documenttranslator 254, a log service 240, a customer database 262, a billingdatabase 264, and a billing controller 270.

As illustrated, the gateway 132 comprises an intermediary elementbetween the data network 110 and the server 140 on the gateway path 154,and provides a means for interfacing between telephony protocols used onthe data network 110 and the PSTN 150 and the server 140. For example,an inbound fax transmitted by one of the conventional fax machines 160may be routed over the PSTN 150, through the gateway 134, over the datanetwork 110, through the gateway 132, through the inbound telephonyinterface 212, and to the line-in controller 230 of the server 140.According to that example, a real time fax connection is providedbetween the fax machine 160 and the server 140, so that an inbound faxmay be received by the server 140 and processed by the job monitor 220.Likewise, the gateway 132 may provide an outbound interface between theserver 140 and the data network 110, when outbound faxes are transmittedfrom the server 140, through the gateway 132, over the data network 110,through the gateway 134, and over the PSTN 150, for delivery to one ofthe conventional fax machines 160. According to the outbound example,the server 140 may route the fax using the off-net line-out controller234 and the off-net outbound telephony interface 216.

The gateway 132 includes the on-net outbound telephony interface 214which is configured to rely on a logical crossover connection 218between the on-net outbound telephony interface 214 and the inboundtelephony interface 212. The logical crossover connection 218 may beconfigured via software, hardware, physical wiring, or a combination ofsoftware, hardware, and physical wiring, among examples. Using thegateway 132 and the logical crossover connection 218, outbound faxmessages from the server 140 may appear to have traversed the datanetwork 110 and/or the PSTN 150, before being received by the inboundtelephony interface 212 for receipt by the line-in controller 230 of theserver 140.

The elements of the server 140 are coordinated by the job monitor 220.According to aspects of the invention, the job monitor 220 coordinates anetwork-based fax service. As described above, the network-based faxservice permits users to send and receive faxes using the data network110 and, in some cases, without using conventional fax machinesconnected to the PSTN 150. The server 140 permits users to access thenetwork-based fax service via the data network 110 and client terminals,such as the computers 112, the multiple-function device 114, and thenetwork fax machine 116. In one embodiment, the server 140 relies uponthe network interface 250 to connect to the client terminals. Thenetwork interface 250 comprises the hardware and associated software toprovide a communications connection between the server 140 and theclients connected to the data network 110.

The network communication services 252 may comprise various forms ofservices such as a web host, an e-mail service, API connectivityservices, and FTP connectivity services, for example. Using one or moreof the services, the network-based fax service of the server 140 may beaccessed by users of the computers 112, the multiple-function device114, and the network fax 116. For example, using the web-host of thenetwork communication services 252, a user may navigate to and access aweb page associated with the network-based fax service of the server140. Upon accessing the web page, a user of the computer 112 may attachan electronic document to be uploaded to the server 140 for delivery asa fax. As another example, a user of the multiple-function device 114 orthe network fax machine 116 may upload an electronic document to theserver 140 using the API connectivity services of the networkcommunication services 252. As still another example, a user may send anelectronic document to the server 140 as an attachment to an e-mailusing the e-mail service of the network communication services 252. Theexamples above are not intended to be limiting in nature, and it isnoted that the server 140 may receive electronic documents fordistribution as faxes via any known method or means.

It is noted that, when a user, as one customer of the network-based faxservice, submits an electronic document to the server 140 fordistribution, the user may not be aware of whether the electronicdocument will be delivered to another customer of the network-based faxservice. For example, when using the web-host of the networkcommunication services 252, a user may specify a destination fax numberas a destination identifier, without any knowledge of whether thedestination fax number is associated with a customer that alsosubscribes to the network-based fax service provided by the server 140.In other words, the user may believe that the network-based fax serviceis going to deliver the electronic document over the PSTN 150 to astandard fax machine 160.

Upon receipt of a new electronic document to be delivered as a fax, thejob monitor 220 is configured to identify whether a destination of thefax message is associated with a destination account among a known groupof customer accounts that subscribe to the network-based fax serviceprovided by the server 140. In that context, the customer database 262may store a known group of customers that subscribe to the network-basedfax service. The job monitor 220 may identify whether a destination isassociated with an account among the known group of customer accountsbased on a reverse lookup query and corresponding response from to thecustomer database 262, using a destination fax number as an index, forexample. To expedite the reverse lookup query to and correspondingresponse from the customer database 262, the customer database may beformatted as an efficient lookup structure.

If the job monitor 220 identifies that the destination of a fax isassociated with a destination account among the known group ofcustomers, the job monitor 220 has identified that the destination ofthe fax message is to an account of a customer that also subscribes tothe network-based fax service provided by the server 140. As usedherein, a destination of an electronic message is “on-net” if thedestination is associated with a customer account among the knowncustomers that subscribe to the network-based service provided by theserver 140.

When the job monitor 220 identifies that an electronic document is to bedelivered “on-net,” the job monitor 220 designates the electronicdocument for on-net delivery. If the job monitor 220 does not identifythe electronic document as being associated with a destination accountamong the known group of customer accounts, the job monitor designatesthe electronic document for “off-net” delivery. In this manner, the jobmonitor 220 designates each incoming fax-delivery job as being eitheron- or off-net. As described in further detail below, the job monitor220 routes faxes based on whether the faxes are on- or off-net, usingone of the on-net line-out controller 232 and the off-net line-outcontroller 234 and the associated telephone interfaces 214 and 216 ofthe gateway 132.

The log service 240 maintains a log of all electronic documents receivedand transmitted by the server 140 for purposes of maintaining records.Because, as described in further detail below, an “on-net” delivery isrouted using the logical crossover connection 218 and without the datanetwork 110 and/or the PSTN 150, no record can be made of the deliveryby a telephone company or other entity. As such, the log service 240 isconfigured to maintain a log of incoming and outgoing documents, faxes,and other associated messages and data, for future reference.

The document translator 254 is configured to translate formats ofelectronic documents, as received by the network communication services252, into one or more formats suitable for transmission as fax messages.For example, the document translator 254 may convert a Microsoft Word®file or an Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF) file to a Tagged ImageFile Format (TIFF) file before the job monitor 220 delivers theelectronic document as a fax. The document translator 254 is configuredto translate among any known document or file formats.

The billing controller 270 is configured to calculate fees associatedwith the delivery of outgoing and incoming faxes. As described infurther detail below, the billing controller 270 is configured tocalculate fees associated with delivery of electronic documents based onwhether a destination account is among a known group of customers and aset of billing rules stored in the billing database 264.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example hardware diagram of a general purposecomputer 300. Any of the computers 112, the multiple-function device114, the network fax machine 116, the gateway 132, the gateway 134, theserver 140, and the conventional fax machines 160 may be implementedusing combinations of the elements of the general purpose computer 300or several ones of the general purpose computer 300. The computer 300includes a processor 310, a Random Access Memory (RAM) 320, a Read OnlyMemory (ROM) 330, a memory (i.e., storage) device 340, a networkinterface 350, and an Input Output (I/O) interface 360. The elements ofthe computer 300 are communicatively coupled via a bus 302.

The processor 310 comprises any well-known general purpose arithmeticprocessor. Both the RAM 320 and the ROM 330 comprise well known randomaccess and read only memory devices, respectively, that storecomputer-readable instructions to be executed by the processor 310. Thememory device 340 stores computer-readable instructions thereon that,when executed by the processor 310, direct the processor 310 to executevarious aspects of the invention described herein. As a non-limitingexample group, the memory device 340 may comprise one or more of anoptical disc, a magnetic disc, a semiconductor memory (i.e., a flashbased memory), a magnetic tape memory, a removable memory, combinationsthereof, or any other well-known memory means for storingcomputer-readable instructions. The I/O interface 360 comprises deviceinput and output interfaces such as keyboard, pointing device, display,communication, and other interfaces. The bus 302 electrically andcommunicatively couples the processor 310, the RAM 320, the ROM 330, thememory device 340, the network interface 350, and the I/O interface 360,so that data and instructions may be communicated among the processor310, the RAM 320, the ROM 330, the memory device 340, the networkinterface 350, and the I/O interface 360. In operation, the processor310 is configured to retrieve computer-readable instructions stored onthe memory device 340, the ROM 330, or another storage means, and copythe computer-readable instructions to the RAM 320 for execution. Theprocessor 310 is further configured to execute the computer-readableinstructions to implement various aspects and features of the inventiondescribed herein. For example, the processor 310 may be adapted andconfigured to execute one or more of the elements of the processesdescribed below with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

Before turning to the process flow diagrams of FIGS. 4 and 5, it isnoted that the invention may be practiced using an alternative order ofthe steps illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. That is, the process flowsillustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 are provided as examples only, and theinvention may be practiced using process flows that differ from thoseillustrated. Additionally, it is noted that not all steps are requiredin every embodiment. In other words, one or more of the steps may beomitted or replaced, without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

Turning to FIG. 4, an example method of distributing documents 400performed by the server 140 and the gateway 132 is described. The methodof distributing documents 400 includes receiving a document to bedistributed at 402, identifying originating and destination accounts at404, designating destinations as on-net or off-net at 406, designatingelectronic documents as off-net at 408, formatting documents fordistribution at 410, routing formatted documents according to theoff-net designation at 412, and calculating fees at 414. The method ofdistributing documents 400 further includes designating electronicdocuments as on-net at 414, formatting documents for distribution at416, and routing formatted documents according to the on-net designationat 418.

The method 400 of distributing documents includes the server 140receiving an electronic document to be distributed as a fax at step 402.The electronic document may be received using the network communicationservices 252 via the network interface 250 and the direct network path152 to the data network 110, as described above. Particularly, any ofthe computers 112, the multiple-function device 114, and the network faxmachine 116 may transfer one or more electronic documents to the server140 for distribution. An electronic document received at step 402 isreceived along with origin and destination identifiers or other similardata.

After receipt of the electronic document at step 402, the job monitor220 identifies an originating account and searches for a destinationaccount at step 404. For example, the job monitor 220 may rely upon ausername, account number, IP address, MAC address, or other identifierassociated with the received electronic document such as a fax number toidentify an originating account associated with the received electronicdocument based on a reverse lookup query to and corresponding responsefrom the customer database 262. A customer account of the network-basedfax service may be identified as an originating account for distributionof the received electronic document, because the customer account shouldbe charged a fee for distribution of the electronic document.Additionally, at step 404, the job monitor 220 searches among a knowngroup of customer accounts that subscribe to the network-based faxservice, to determine whether the destination identifier is associatedwith an account of a subscriber of the network-based fax service. Toachieve this, the job monitor 220 may execute a reverse lookup query toand corresponding response from the customer database 262, as a searchamong a known group of customers that subscribe to the network-based faxservice.

At decision step 406, depending on whether the destination of theelectronic document is identified as being associated with an account ofthe network-based fax service, the job monitor will proceed to eitherstep 408 or 414. When the destination of the electronic document is notidentified as being associated with an account among the known group ofcustomer accounts stored in the customer database 262, the job monitor220 designates the electronic document for an off-net delivery at step408. Designation of the electronic document for off-net delivery may beaccomplished using metadata or other data flag stored by the server 140in association with the electronic document to be distributed. At step410, the document translator 254 translates a format of the receivedelectronic document to a format suitable for transmission as a fax, suchas a TIFF format. At step 412, the job monitor 220 routes the formattedelectronic document according to the off-net designation. According tothe off-net designation, the job monitor 220 routes the formattedelectronic document to the off-net line-out controller 234 and theoff-net outbound telephony interface 216 of the gateway 132, forcommunication of the formatted electronic document over the data network110 and the PSTN 150. In other words, for a destination identifier notassociated with a customer account among the known group of customeraccounts, a fax is transmitted via the data network 110 for possibledelivery to one of the conventional fax machines 160 connected to thePSTN 150. As noted above, delivery of such a fax is accompanied by acharge for delivery using the PSTN 150, according to rates determined bya telephone company or other entity that maintains the PSTN 150. At step414, the billing controller 270 calculates a fee associated with off-netdelivery of the electronic document, as described in further detail withreference to FIG. 5 below.

Alternatively, if the job monitor 220 determines at step 406 that thedestination identifier of the electronic document is associated with acustomer account among the known group of customer accounts stored inthe customer database 262, the job monitor 220 designates the electronicdocument for an on-net delivery at step 414. At step 416 (as at step410), the document translator 254 translates a format of the receivedelectronic document to a format suitable for transmission as a faxmessage, such as a TIFF format At step 418, the job monitor 220 routesthe on-net electronic document via the on-net line-out controller 232and the on-net outbound telephony interface 214, so that the electronicdocument may be delivered via the logical cross over connection 218 tothe inbound telephony interface 212 for receipt by the line-incontroller 230.

In association with step 418, it is noted that the on-net line-outcontroller 232 may append a fax transmission header to the electronicdocument before and/or while the electronic document is beingtransmitted in real time via the on-net outbound telephony interface 214and the logical cross over connection 218 and being received via theinbound telephony interface 212 and the line-in controller 230. In thatsense, the line-in controller 230 performs some standard fax machinefunctions for reception of a fax in real time, while the on-net line-outcontroller 232 performs some standard fax machine functions fortransmission of a fax in real time. The fax transmission header andother transmission data may be representative of characteristics of afax transmission negotiated between the line-in controller 230 and theon-net line-out controller 232 during an initial handshaking sequence.The header and other associated data may include a transmission faxnumber, a transmission speed, a total transmission time, and a pagenumber, among other items, for example. The on-net line-out controller232 may also add a cover page to an outgoing fax, as part of apredefined user parameter stored in association with a user account ofthe network-based fax service. Because the on-net line-out controller232 appends a fax transmission header and other transmission data to anoutgoing fax, electronic documents distributed on-net appear to havebeen transmitted via the PSTN 150 from a conventional fax machine.

At step 414, the billing controller 270 calculates a fee associated withon-net delivery of the electronic document, as described in furtherdetail below with reference to FIG. 5. The calculation of the fee foron-net delivery may be discounted based on the fact that the deliverywas routed via the logical cross over connection 218 without the costsassociated with the PSTN 150. The calculation of the fee may be furtherbased upon a set of billing rules stored in the billing database 264 asdescribed in further detail below with reference to FIG. 5. It is notedthat, whether or not the delivery fee is discounted for the customer,the operating costs of the network-based fax service are discounted.

Turning to FIG. 5, an example method 414 of calculating a delivery feeis described in further detail. The method 414 for calculating a feeincludes determining whether a destination of an outgoing fax is on- oroff-net at step 502. That is, as described above, the job monitor 220relies upon the customer database 262 and a destination identifierreceived along with an electronic document, to determine whether adestination of a fax is associated with a destination account among theknown group of customers that subscribe to the network-based faxservice. The billing controller 270 receives this information from thejob monitor 220 and, if the destination of the fax is off-net, thebilling controller 270 provides no discount for delivery at step 504based on a set of billing rules stored in the billing database 264,because the delivery cannot be accommodated via the logical cross overconnection 218. It is noted that the set of billing rules stored in thebilling database 264 specifies no discount for delivery, wheneverdelivery of a fax occurs off-net using the data network 110 and the PSTN150. Because no cost savings is available for off-net delivery of a faxusing the data network 110 and the PSTN 150, no discount is generallyprovided by the set of billing rules.

Alternatively, when the billing controller 270 receives information fromthe job monitor 220 that specifies that the destination of the fax ison-net, the billing controller 270 proceeds from step 502 to step 506.The remaining examples are described with reference to on-net faxes.Here, it is again noted that, although a fax may be distributed “on-net”either a discounted or standard fee may apply based on a set of billingrules.

To provide a more detailed example of the remaining steps of the method414, reference is now made to FIGS. 6A and 6B. FIGS. 6A and 6Billustrate example sets of billing rules. As one example of the billingrules, the rules may be structured to define individual discountassociations for each of a plurality of user accounts. In FIG. 6A, a setof billing rules associated with account D 618 of customer 1 isillustrated and, in FIG. 6B, a set of billing rules associated withaccount A 642 of customer 4 is illustrated. It is noted that the billingrules illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B are provided by way of exampleonly, and other sets of rules are within the scope and spirit of theinvention. The billing rules are relied upon by the billing controller270 when calculating a fee for delivery of a fax. As illustrated, it isnoted that one customer may include one or a plurality of accounts forpurposes of billing. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 6A, customer 1includes account A 612, account B 614, account C 616, and account D 618.Further, customer 2 includes account E 622 and account F 624; Customer 3includes account G 632, account H 634, and account I 636; and Customer 4includes account J 642, account K 644, and account L 646. Each customermay include any number of associated accounts, and the set of billingrules may include rules for any number of customers and associatedaccounts. For billing purposes, each customer may receive a single billfor network-based fax services for all of its accounts. For example,customer 1 may receive a single bill for network-based fax servicesassociated with accounts 612, 614, 616, and 618. Alternatively, eachaccount may be billed separately. As described in further detail below,FIG. 6A includes global discounts 652 and 654 and specific discounts 656and 658. Also, FIG. 6B includes global discount 662 and specificdiscounts 664 and 666.

Referring to both FIG. 5 and FIG. 6A for one example, in the case ofdistributing a fax from originating account D 618 to destination accountE 622, the billing controller 270 first determines that the originatingand destination accounts are not accounts of a same customer at step506, because originating account D 618 is associated with customer 1 anddestination account E 622 is associated with customer 2. Based on thedetermination that the originating and destination accounts are notaccounts of a same customer at step 506, the billing controller 270proceeds to step 508, where the billing controller 270 determineswhether a global discount 654 exists between the originating account D618 and the destination account E 622 at step 508 based on a query toand corresponding response from the billing database 264. In the case ofdistributing the fax from originating account D 618 to destinationaccount E 622, the billing controller 270 determines that the globaldiscount 654 exists between accounts of customer 1 and accounts ofcustomer 2. As such, the billing controller 270 determines that adiscount exists between the originating account D 618, as an account ofcustomer 1, and the destination account E 622, as an account of customer2, at step 508, and the billing controller 270 calculates a discountedfee for delivery of the fax to the destination account E 622 at step510.

As used herein, a global discount between customers, such as globaldiscount 654, includes a discount between each user account of onecustomer and each user account of another customer. In other words, thebilling rules illustrated in FIG. 6A include global discount 654, whichspecifies a discount between all accounts of customers 1 and 2. Oncedefined in the set of billing rules, the global discount 654 may alsoapply between accounts added in the future to either customer 1 orcustomer 2. The global discount 654 may be considered part of a subsetof the set of billing rules illustrated in FIG. 6A because it specifiesan inter-customer rule rather than intra-customer rule. That is, the setof billing rules may be defined, in part, according to inter-customerand intra-customer rules, for flexibility.

In a different example with reference to FIG. 6A when distributing a faxfrom originating account D 618 to destination account A 612, the billingcontroller 270 first determines that the originating and destinationaccounts are accounts of a same customer based on a query to andcorresponding response from the customer database 262 at step 506,because originating account D 618 is associated with customer 1 anddestination account A 612 is also associated with customer 1. Based onthe determination that the originating and destination accounts areaccounts of a same customer at step 506, the billing controller 270proceeds to step 518. At step 518, the billing controller 270 determinesthat a global discount exists between the originating account D 618 andthe destination account A 612 based on a query to and correspondingresponse from the billing database 264. In particular, the billingcontroller 270 identifies global discount 652 between the originatingaccount D 618 and the destination account A 612. Based on theidentification of the global discount 652, the billing controller 270calculates a discounted fee associated with distribution of the fax tothe destination account A 612 at step 520. In this case, the globaldiscount 652 may be considered part of a subset of the set of billingrules illustrated in FIG. 6A, because it specifies an intra-customerrule, rather than inter-customer rule.

Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6B for another example, when distributing afax from originating account J 642 of customer 4 to destination accountL 646 of customer 4, the job monitor 220 determines that account L 646is a destination account among the known group of customers based on aquery to and corresponding response from the customer database 262 atstep 502. The billing controller 270 receives this information from thejob monitor 220 and proceeds to step 506, to determine whether theoriginating account J 642 and the destination account L 646 are eachassociated with a same customer at step 506. At step 506, the billingcontroller 270 determines that the originating account J 642 and thedestination account L 646 are both accounts of customer 4, based on aquery to and corresponding response from the customer database 262, andproceeds to step 518. At step 518, the billing controller 270 determinesthat no global discount exists between the originating account J 642 andthe other accounts of customer 4 based on a query to and correspondingresponse from the billing database 264. In contrast to the globaldiscount 652 among the accounts of customer 1, as illustrated in FIG.6A, no global discount exists between the accounts of customer 4, asillustrated in FIG. 6B. As such, the billing controller 270 determinesthat no global discount exists between originating account J 642 and theother accounts of customer 4 at step 518.

Based on the determination that no global discount exists between theoriginating account J 642 and the destination account L 646 at step 518,the billing controller 270 proceeds to step 522, where the billingcontroller 270 determines whether a specific discount exists between theoriginating account J 642 and the destination account L 646 based on aquery to and corresponding response from the billing database 264. Atstep 522, the billing controller 270 identifies the specific discount666 between the originating account J 642 and the destination account L646. Based on the determination that the specific discount 666 existsbetween the originating account J 642 and the destination account L 646at step 522, the billing controller 270 calculates a discounted fee fordelivery of the fax to the destination account L 646 at step 526. Inthis case, the specific discount 666 may be considered part of a subsetof the set of billing rules illustrated in FIG. 6B, because it specifiesan intra-customer rule rather than inter-customer rule.

In another example with reference to FIG. 6B, when distributing a faxfrom the originating account J 642 to destination account K 644, thebilling controller 270 determines that no global discount exists betweenoriginating account J 642 and destination account K 644 at step 518based on a query to and corresponding response from the billing database264. Again, it is noted that no global discount exists among theaccounts of customer 4. Based on the determination that no globaldiscount exists between the originating account J 642 and thedestination account K 644 at step 518, the billing controller 270proceeds to step 522, where the billing controller 270 determineswhether a specific discount exists between originating account J 642 anddestination account K 644 based on a query to and corresponding responsefrom the billing database 264. At step 522, the billing controller 270identifies that no specific discount exists between the originatingaccount J 642 and the destination account K 644. Based on thedetermination that no specific discount exists between the originatingaccount J 642 and the destination account K 644 at step 522, the billingcontroller 270 calculates a standard fee for delivery of the fax to thedestination account K 644 at step 524.

In another example with reference to FIG. 6B, when distributing a faxfrom originating account J 642 of customer 4 to destination account F624 of customer 2, the job monitor 220 determines that account F 624 isa destination account among the known group of customers based on aquery to and corresponding response from the customer database 262 atstep 502. The billing controller 270 then proceeds to step 506, todetermine whether the originating account J 642 and the destinationaccount F 624 are each associated with a same customer at step 506. Atstep 506, the billing controller 270 determines that the originatingaccount J 642 and the destination account L 646 are not both accounts ofcustomer 4, based on a query to and corresponding response from thecustomer database 262, and proceeds to step 508. At step 508, thebilling controller 270 determines that no global discount exists betweenthe originating account J 642 and the accounts of customer 2 based on aquery to and corresponding response from the billing database 264. Incontrast to the global discount 654 among the accounts of customers 1and 2, as illustrated in FIG. 6A, no global discount exists between theaccounts of customers 4 and 2, as illustrated in FIG. 6B. As such, thebilling controller 270 determines that no global discount exists betweenoriginating account J 642 and the accounts of customer 2 at step 508.

Based on the determination that no global discount exists between theoriginating account J 642 and the accounts of customer 2 at step 508,the billing controller 270 proceeds to step 512, where the billingcontroller 270 determines whether a specific discount exists between theoriginating account J 642 and the destination account F 624 based on aquery to and corresponding response from the billing database 264. Atstep 512, the billing controller 270 identifies the specific discount664 between the originating account J 642 and the destination account F624. Based on the determination that the specific discount 664 existsbetween the originating account J 642 and the destination account F 624at step 512, the billing controller 270 calculates a discounted fee fordelivery of the fax to the destination account F 624 at step 516. Inthis case, the specific discount 664 may be considered part of a subsetof the set of billing rules illustrated in FIG. 6B, because it specifiesan inter-customer rule rather than intra-customer rule.

It is also noted that the specific discount between account J 642, as anoriginating account, and account F 624, as a destination account, may ormay not define a specific discount between account F 624, as anoriginating account, and account J 642, as a destination account. Inother words, the billing rules may define specific discounts betweenaccounts as either one-way or two-way, for flexibility.

In another example with reference to FIG. 6B, when distributing a faxfrom the originating account J 642 to destination account E 622, thebilling controller 270 determines that no global discount exists betweenoriginating account J 642 and destination account E 622 at step 508based on a query to and corresponding response from the billing database264. Again, it is noted that no global discount exists among theaccounts of customers 4 and 2. Based on the determination that no globaldiscount exists between the originating account J 642 and thedestination account E 622 at step 508, the billing controller 270proceeds to step 512, where the billing controller 270 determineswhether a specific discount exists between originating account J 642 andthe destination account E 622 based on a query to and correspondingresponse from the billing database 264. At step 512, the billingcontroller 270 identifies that no specific discount exists between theoriginating account J 642 and the destination account E 622. Based onthe determination that no specific discount exists between theoriginating account J 642 and the destination account E 622 at step 522,the billing controller 270 calculates a standard fee for delivery of thefax to the destination account E 622 at step 514.

It is noted that calculation of a delivery fee by the billing controller270 at steps 510, 520, 516, and 526 may be based on various parametersin addition to discounts specified by the set of billing rules, such asthe transmission time of the fax, the number of pages of the fax, andpredetermined rates for fax distribution, among other parameters.Similarly, calculation of a delivery fee by the billing controller 270at steps 504, 514, and 524 may be based on various parameters such asthe transmission time of the fax, the number of pages of the fax, andpredetermined rates for fax distribution, among other parameters.

The global and specific discounts of the billing rules may be definedbased on a plurality of considerations, such as customer relationshipsand customer inter-relationships. For example, a global discount may beprovided among all accounts of one customer having a certain number oftransactions per period of time or based on another promotion. Asanother example, a global discount may be provided between two customersthat are subsidiaries, as part of a negotiated rate. In other aspects,because a discount may indicate to one customer that another customer isserviced by the same network-based fax service, no global or specificdiscounts may be defined between customers that are competitors.

Variations on the billing rules illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B arewithin the scope and spirit of the invention. As an alternative to thedetailed billing rules illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B, in oneembodiment, the set of billing rules may specify a discounted fee forrouting a fax to each of a known group of customer accounts. In otherwords, the set of billing rules may simply specify a reduced fee fordelivery of every fax identified as having an on-net destination at step502. In another embodiment, the set of billing rules may specify adiscounted fee for routing a fax to a first group of the known group ofcustomer accounts and specify a standard fee for a second group of theknown group of customer accounts.

It is again noted that, as between faxes delivered on- and off-net, thenetwork-based fax service described herein is configured to deliverfaxes on-net without providing any indication of on-net delivery. Inother words, a fax delivered on-net will appear the same as a faxdelivered off-net, because delivery via the logical crossover connection218 cannot be distinguished from delivery via the data network 110and/or the PSTN 150. Thus, where the set of billing rules defines astandard fee, the network-based fax service saves costs whilemaintaining privacy between customers, such as competing customers.

Although embodiments of the invention have been described herein indetail, the descriptions are by way of example. The features of theinvention described herein are representative and, in alternativeembodiments, certain features and elements may be added or omitted.Additionally, modifications to aspects of the embodiments describedherein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention defined in the following claims,the scope of which are to be accorded the broadest interpretation so asto encompass modifications and equivalent structures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for electronic document distribution,the method comprising: receiving, by a computer, a document fordistribution, the computer having a direct network path to a datanetwork and communicatively connected to a gateway having inbound andoutbound interfaces; determining, by the computer, destination accountsfor distribution of the document; determining, by the computer, whetherany of the destination accounts is associated with an on-netdestination; depending upon whether the document is associated with adestination account having an on-net destination, designating, by thecomputer, the document for an on-net delivery, an off-net delivery, or acombination thereof; formatting, by the computer, the document fordistribution; and responsive to the document being designated for theon-net delivery, routing, by the computer, the document thus formattedthrough a logical crossover connection between the inbound and outboundinterfaces of the gateway.
 2. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe computer is further configured for providing a network-based faxservice, the network-based fax service including appending atransmission header and a cover page such that the on-net delivery ofthe document is indistinguishable from the off-net delivery of thedocument.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the computer isfurther configured for providing a network-based fax service, whereinthe document is associated with a destination identifier, and whereindetermining destination accounts comprises searching subscriber accountsthat subscribe to the network-based fax service and determining whetherthe destination identifier is associated with any of the subscriberaccounts.
 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:identify an originating account associated with the document based on areverse lookup query to a database; determining whether the originatingaccount and the destination account having an on-net destination areaccounts of a same user; based on a determination that the originatingaccount and the destination account are not accounts of the same user,determining whether a global discount exists between the originatingaccount and the destination account; and responsive to a determinationthat a global discount exists between the originating account and thedestination account, determining a discounted fee for delivery of thedocument.
 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:identify an originating account associated with the document based on areverse lookup query to a database; determining whether the originatingaccount and the destination account having an on-net destination areaccounts of a same user; and based on a determination that theoriginating account and the destination account are accounts of the sameuser, determining that no global discount exists between the accounts ofthe same user.
 6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:responsive to a determination that no global discount exists between theaccounts of the same user, determining whether a specific discountexists between the originating account and the destination account; andresponsive to a determination that a specific discount exists betweenthe originating account and the destination account, determining adiscounted fee for delivery of the document.
 7. The method according toclaim 5, further comprising: responsive to a determination that noglobal discount exists between the accounts of the same user,determining whether a specific discount exists between the originatingaccount and the destination account; and responsive to a determinationthat no specific discount exists between the originating account and thedestination account, determining a standard fee for delivery of thedocument.
 8. A system for electronic document distribution, the systemcomprising: a processor; a non-transitory computer-readable medium; andstored instructions translatable by the processor for: receiving adocument for distribution, the system having a direct network path to adata network and communicatively connected to a gateway having inboundand outbound interfaces; determining destination accounts fordistribution of the document; determining whether any of the destinationaccounts is associated with an on-net destination; depending uponwhether the document is associated with a destination account having anon-net destination, designating the document for an on-net delivery, anoff-net delivery, or a combination thereof; formatting the document fordistribution; and responsive to the document being designated for theon-net delivery, routing the document thus formatted through a logicalcrossover connection between the inbound and outbound interfaces of thegateway.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the stored instructions arefurther translatable by the processor for providing a network-based faxservice, the network-based fax service including appending atransmission header and a cover page such that the on-net delivery ofthe document is indistinguishable from the off-net delivery of thedocument.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein the stored instructions arefurther translatable by the processor for providing a network-based faxservice, wherein the document is associated with a destinationidentifier, and wherein determining destination accounts comprisessearching subscriber accounts that subscribe to the network-based faxservice and determining whether the destination identifier is associatedwith any of the subscriber accounts.
 11. The system of claim 8, whereinthe stored instructions are further translatable by the processor for:identify an originating account associated with the document based on areverse lookup query to a database; determining whether the originatingaccount and the destination account having an on-net destination areaccounts of a same user; based on a determination that the originatingaccount and the destination account are not accounts of the same user,determining whether a global discount exists between the originatingaccount and the destination account; and responsive to a determinationthat a global discount exists between the originating account and thedestination account, determining a discounted fee for delivery of thedocument.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein the stored instructions arefurther translatable by the processor for: identify an originatingaccount associated with the document based on a reverse lookup query toa database; determining whether the originating account and thedestination account having an on-net destination are accounts of a sameuser; and based on a determination that the originating account and thedestination account are accounts of the same user, determining that noglobal discount exists between the accounts of the same user.
 13. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein the stored instructions are furthertranslatable by the processor for: responsive to a determination that noglobal discount exists between the accounts of the same user,determining whether a specific discount exists between the originatingaccount and the destination account; and responsive to a determinationthat a specific discount exists between the originating account and thedestination account, determining a discounted fee for delivery of thedocument.
 14. The system of claim 12, wherein the stored instructionsare further translatable by the processor for: responsive to adetermination that no global discount exists between the accounts of thesame user, determining whether a specific discount exists between theoriginating account and the destination account; and responsive to adetermination that no specific discount exists between the originatingaccount and the destination account, determining a standard fee fordelivery of the document.
 15. A computer program product for electronicdocument distribution, the computer program product comprising anon-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructionstranslatable by a computer for: receiving a document for distribution,the computer having a direct network path to a data network andcommunicatively connected to a gateway having inbound and outboundinterfaces; determining destination accounts for distribution of thedocument; determining whether any of the destination accounts isassociated with an on-net destination; depending upon whether thedocument is associated with a destination account having an on-netdestination, designating the document for an on-net delivery, an off-netdelivery, or a combination thereof; formatting the document fordistribution; and responsive to the document being designated for theon-net delivery, routing the document thus formatted through a logicalcrossover connection between the inbound and outbound interfaces of thegateway.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein theinstructions are further translatable by the computer for providing anetwork-based fax service, the network-based fax service includingappending a transmission header and a cover page such that the on-netdelivery of the document is indistinguishable from the off-net deliveryof the document.
 17. The computer program product of claim 15, whereinthe instructions are further translatable by the computer for providinga network-based fax service, wherein the document is associated with adestination identifier, and wherein determining destination accountscomprises searching subscriber accounts that subscribe to thenetwork-based fax service and determining whether the destinationidentifier is associated with any of the subscriber accounts.
 18. Thecomputer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions arefurther translatable by the computer for: identify an originatingaccount associated with the document based on a reverse lookup query toa database; determining whether the originating account and thedestination account having an on-net destination are accounts of a sameuser; based on a determination that the originating account and thedestination account are not accounts of the same user, determiningwhether a global discount exists between the originating account and thedestination account; and responsive to a determination that a globaldiscount exists between the originating account and the destinationaccount, determining a discounted fee for delivery of the document. 19.The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions arefurther translatable by the computer for: identify an originatingaccount associated with the document based on a reverse lookup query toa database; determining whether the originating account and thedestination account having an on-net destination are accounts of a sameuser; and based on a determination that the originating account and thedestination account are accounts of the same user, determining that noglobal discount exists between the accounts of the same user.
 20. Thecomputer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions arefurther translatable by the computer for: responsive to a determinationthat no global discount exists between the accounts of the same user,determining whether a specific discount exists between the originatingaccount and the destination account; responsive to a determination thata specific discount exists between the originating account and thedestination account, determining a discounted fee for delivery of thedocument; and responsive to a determination that no specific discountexists between the originating account and the destination account,determining a standard fee for delivery of the document.